Alongside Meiko Satomura, WWE today announced the latest signings to NXT UK, includingTony Gill of West Sussex, England, Metehan Kocabasoglu of Germany and Bailey Matthews of Blackpool, England. They join a crop of talent who have recently debuted on NXT UK, including Rampage Brown, Aleah James, Sha Samuels and Ben Carter.
The latest NXT UK additions include:
MEIKO SATOMURA (Niigata, Japan) – (read our news here) Lauded as being “the best in the world”, Meiko Satomura was part of the 2018 Mae Young Classic where she faced Toni Storm in the semi-finals. Having co-founded SENDAI Girls’ Pro Wrestling, she went on to huge success on the independent scene which saw her become PROGRESS Women’s Champion.
#NXTUK Women’s Champion @Kay_Lee_Ray said she wanted the best in the world.@satomurameiko is coming to answer the call. pic.twitter.com/XbpxUaATxT
— WWE (@WWE) January 28, 2021
TONY GILL (West Sussex, England) – Anglo-Indian Tony Gill moved to Australia as a child before heading to Canada where he trained under Lance Storm. Following in the footsteps of the biggest Punjabi names in WWE history, including The Great Khali and Jinder Mahal, Tony Gill is ready to make an impact in NXT UK bringing a combination of styles inspired by the likes of Shawn Michaels and Kurt Angle.
After his training, Gill worked for some Canadian promotions while attending Battle Arts Academy for additional training under coaches Yuki Ishikawa and Santino Marella. Gill attended a two-day Impact Wrestling/Pro Wrestling Noah tryout during July 2017. He was one of the selected for a developmental deal for IMPACT Wrestling. Gill relocated to Windsor, Ontario, Canada to train at the Can-Am Dojo under head trainer Scott D’Amore. He then went on to be featured as one of the competitors on Impact Wrestling’s reality show “Global Forged”.
Although he did not win, Gill opened the eyes of officials in IMPACT and signed a full-time contract with Impact Wrestling in November 2017. In January 2018, IMPACT announced a new stable called The Desi Hit Squad which Gill was announced as one of the members in the group and was given his middle name “Gursinder Singh” as his new work name. On March 3rd and 4th, he debuted alongside Rohit Raju and represented the Desi Hit Squad on Impact Wrestling’s Last Chancery and Impact One Night Only: March Breakdown. On June 28, 2018, Gill made his IMPACT Wrestling debut on IMPACT alongside Gama Singh and Rohit Raju as part of the Desi Hit Squad. They defeated former tag team champions Z&E (DJ Z & Andrew Everett). After leaving the company, a few months later, he worked mostly in Canada and Australia.
Finally officially announcing to the world that I have signed with the @WWE and that I'll be representing the @NXTUK brand! Only a handful of people truly know what this means to me as I'm unable to put my emotions into words. I'm ready to show the world what I'm all about! #wwe
— Rohan Raja (@RealRohanRaja) January 29, 2021
METEHAN KOCABASOGLU (Berlin, Germany) – Representing his Turkish heritage and currently residing in Berlin, Germany, the 6-foot powerhouse almost became a professional footballer before moving into the world of sports-entertainment. Metehan is a former wXw Champion who has competed against the likes of Timothy Thatcher, Ilja Dragunov and NXT UK Champion WALTER.
Kocabasoglu initially aspired to be a professional footballer, but after sustaining a knee injury, he was forced to give it up. A friend of his, Cem Kaplan, told him about the wrestling school at the German Wrestling Federation (GWF), so he trained to become a professional wrestler, making his debut in 2008. He would go on to team with Kaplan in German Stampede Wrestling (GSW), and had greater success with Tarkan Aslan, as the Young Lions, winning multiple tag team championships across the country. Billed as Aslan’s storyline brother, he was nicknamed the Lucky Kid, which later became his ring name. In 2015, the Young Lions began making regular appearances in wXw, and upon their return in May 2017, they won the wXw World Tag Team Championship, aligning themselves with a new heel stable, Rise. Their reign lasted until November, as they failed to advance to the finals of the World Tag Team League.
Rise eventually split into two factions, and Lucky aligned himself with the faces. Lucky would be involved in title shots for the wXw Shotgun Championship for much of the year, but in August 2018, Aslan turned his back on him. In autumn title matches against Marius Al-Ani, Aslan and Da Mack interfered on separate occasions, costing Lucky the match. This led to both factions facing off against each with the titles on the line, at Back to the Roots, which resulted in a win for the faces. At wXw 16 Carat Gold, Lucky defeated Ringkampf’s Timothy Thatcher and Axel Dieter Jr., and 2017 winner Ilja Dragunov on his way to the final, before gaining an upset victory over Walter. He would remain a member of Rise until September 2019, as his match at Du Entscheidest with stablemate Pete Bouncer went to a no contest, and later in the night, Bouncer and Ivan Kiev made their mark in the tag division. In October, he began teaming with Kyle Fletcher as wXw’s official representatives of Schadenfreude. In 2020, Lucky was defeated in the first round of wXw 16 Carat Gold, and turned heel on night three, changing his ring name to his birth name, while introducing a new stable, Ezel, alongside Grup Anarsi (Abdul Kenan and Aytac Bahar). During July, he participated in a tournament for the vacant Shotgun Championship and defeated Hektor Invictus in the final to win his first singles title in wXw.
Today @WWE announced the latest @NXTUK signings.
Congrats @Real_Metehan! pic.twitter.com/UmzzGxz6Ap
— wXw Germany (@wXwGermany) January 29, 2021
BAILEY MATTHEWS (Blackpool, England) – Ready to roar onto the scene and represent his hometown of Blackpool, England, Bailey Matthews is set to bring a unique style to NXT UK inspired by the likes of Johnny Saint, Billy Robinson and NXT General Manager William Regal.
Bailey has already appeared on the independent scene in the UK and wXw in Germany. He began his wrestling career back in 2018, wrestling just a few matches with smaller companies like EVOLVE and PROGRESS Wrestling. He lost a dark match to Jordan Breaks at PROGRESS Wrestling’s Chapter 79 in London on November 26, 2018. Joe then lost to Harlem Bravado in the opening match of EVOLVE 117 in New York City on December 15, 2018. The next night, he lost a dark match to Joe Gacy at EVOLVE 118 in Deer Park. He has even trained with New Japan Pro Wrestling earlier last year.
NXT UK continues every Thursday at 3 PM ET/8 PM GMT on WWE Network and repeated Friday at 10 PM GMT on BT Sport in the UK.
All pics and videos courtesy of WWE